PotC Twilight Zone: Good Business
by puddytat1972
Summary: I had so much fun with the last one, I decided to do it again. The time has finally come for Beckett to receive recognition for his deeds. Don't be bashful, Beckett. Step up and claim your reward.


centerbGOOD BUSINESS /b/center

**GOOD BUSINESS **

It was all coming down around him: his ship, his men, his dreams. How could this have fallen apart so completely and utterly? He had the heart of Jones. He _owned_ the sea. It made no sense, none at all. And all at the hands of Sparrow? Beckett rolled the events over in his mind as he walked among the shouts, explosions and falling debris. In his mind, this simply wasn't happening. Everything had been accounted for. The Caribbean trade was in his very hands. All he had to do was present it to His Majesty and reap the rewards to follow. No, all of this would go away. Beckett would open his eyes, massage his brow, and recognize it for the horrible nightmare that it was.

Then something snapped him back into the reality of it all. A glowing ball of fire swelled before his eyes and was coming right for him. The heat of the blast reached him only milliseconds before the actual flames arrived and threw him from the ship just in time to avoid their full effect. Beckett saw it coming. What took only an instant in real time played out over an eternity in front of him. He watched the glowing, billowing mass grow and undulate like a thunderhead before a summer storm. He felt the solid push of superheated air as it lifted him from the deck of the ship and carried him away. It seared his skin and burned his lungs as he took what he expected to be his last breath. All that was left of the ship below him shrank away as he flew through the air. And all the while, that hideous ball of fire chased after him, gaining on him, until suddenly, it retreated. Everything retreated, including the heat wave that had kept him airborne, and all became still.

For a moment, Beckett felt like he was floating. He even briefly entertained the idea that perhaps he was already dead and would continue his disembodied journey to whatever afterlife awaited him. Then his stomach sank and he began his descent. This part of his journey went much more quickly than the first. Almost before he could reach out to grab for something that wasn't there to save him, his body slammed into the ocean below. The sensation was like hitting solid land. It sent a piercing shockwave through his body and completely winded him before he sank under the water. He saw the rippling surface above him begin to glow with the fiery blaze that had once been his ship. As he descended even further, he became enveloped in a shroud of deep blue: the EIC flag...

_Cutler Beckett, a perfect example of a self-made man who worships his creator. And like any man whose object of worship has been ridiculed and blasphemed, he has made it his moral duty to elevate said object back to its original shrine of greatness or higher by taking out his revenge on those who would dare to bring it down. His personal crusade to earn himself a place among the great men of history has now come to a close. It didn't end with the triumphant victory that he so desired, but he can rest assured that he will be recognized for all he has done, if not by those whose lives he touched in the realm of the living, then perhaps in The Twilight Zone... _

The air was thick with the smell of damp earth and a hint of sulphur. Its temperature was slightly warmer than was comfortable and didn't move, making each breath a conscious effort to draw the air in through the nostrils and pull it down into the lungs. Stifling, that was the word that came to Beckett's mind just before he opened his eyes. The view before him was no more encouraging. At first, he saw nothing, only darkness. Then as his eyes adjusted to the muted light, he was able to make out rock formations under a soft orange glow. He appeared to be in some sort of cave, and judging by the sound and motion around him he was moving along a river.

He blinked a few times before his view was obscured by the face of a dark-skinned woman who hovered over him and examined him with wild, piercing eyes. When she saw that he was awake, a warm smile spread across her face, revealing a set of teeth that would be perfect if they hadn't been discolored by some sort of black substance. The woman placed a hand on Beckett's forehead and brushed some stray hair away from his face. "Der you go Cutler Beckett. We will finish your journey soon," she said to him.

"Where am I, and who are you?" Beckett asked. "I could have sworn..."

"You was dead?" She finished for him. "Dat is true. My name is Calypso, and you are in de Underworld, de Realm of Hades."

"Calypso? Hades?" A subtle laugh escaped him. "Why, that's all part of ancient mythology. A religion of its time. Little more than legend and folklore."

"Like Davy Jones?" she asked. All warmth and cheerfulness disappeared from her face. It was clear that his belittling of the old myths had struck a nerve with her, and whoever she was, Beckett sensed that he was completely in her hands for the moment and therefore, it would be best not cross her. "Der be more to dem myt's and religions dan you t'ink, Cutler Beckett." The boat they were traveling in came to an abrupt stop against the riverbank, and Calypso immediately stood up. "Since Davy Jones is no longer at sea, and William Turner is not yet ready for him duty, I must take you to see Hades. Come, him is expecting us," she said and took hold of Beckett's arm to help him up.

Beckett scrambled to his feet. "Yes of course," he said. He had no idea how this woman knew his name, or if what she said was anything short of the ramblings of a lunatic. But it was clear he was not in familiar territory and felt it would be best to play along, at least for the time being.

Calypso led Beckett away from the boat and through a garden that, against all reason, was lush with greenery, brightly colored flowers and a variety of fruit. Here and there, rock formations jutted from the ground and trickles of molten rock ran from their crevices. These springs of magma appeared to be the only source of light in this cavernous realm, but they were sufficient, casting a muted orange glow onto everything around them. Beckett couldn't quite decide whether he had gone to his reward or his condemnation. The dark atmosphere and uncomfortable climate did not exactly fit his idea of Heaven, but it was a far cry from the Hell that supposedly awaited non-believers of the Judeo-Christian faith. Certainly, this was something he could tolerate if he must.

They continued for a while until they came to a large cliff face with an opening to an inner cavern. It was blocked by heavy iron gates, and as Beckett approached them, a beast roughly the size of a lion lunged at them, causing the gates to shake violently under its weight. Beckett jumped instinctively. It appeared that the gates were sufficient to hold it back, but the beast attacked them with such ferocity, that he was still not comfortable with it. "Down, Cerberus!" a booming male voice commanded from somewhere beyond the gates. Beckett forced himself to take a good look at the beast, and just as its name suggested, the animal had three heads of a canine nature, although it was difficult for him to get anymore detail about them due to the way they kept charging at the iron bars and attempting to rip them off with their massive teeth. Beckett turned to Calypso. "If you think I'm going in there, you're mad," he said.

Calypso didn't answer him. She only curled her lips in a devious smile then nodded toward the gate. Beckett didn't return the smile, but he carefully turned his attention back to the gate, afraid of what he was going to find now. Cerberus was still charging at it, barking and growling viciously while depositing white froth from his jowls onto the bars. But now there was someone else, a man at least twice the size of any normal man walking up behind the dog. "I said get down!" he shouted, while giving the beast a firm swat to his hind quarters. Cerberus yelped, three times, in fact, and moved away from the gate with his tail between his legs. He didn't move very far before he sat on his haunches and growled menacingly at Beckett, each of his heads taking turns baring its teeth. The man waved a hand at him. "Don't worry about him. He's never bitten anyone without my permission," he said and began unlocking the gate. He opened it wide, but fortunately, the dog was obedient and stayed in his place. Then the man stepped out to meet his guests with a hearty smile that peered out from behind a dark, overgrown beard and moustache. He reached out to Calypso and laid his hands on her shoulders, leaning back to get a good look at her. "Calypso, it's been a long time! How have you been, Sweetheart? I hear you got yourself into a bit of trouble."

She looked almost bashful before him. "Ah, yes. I had some trouble wit de mortals. But all dat is past now. I'm free to wander de sea."

"Glad to hear it," he said patting her on the back. "You and I will have to catch up on all that later. I have a feeling you're here on official business today."

Calypso reached out, grabbed Becket by the arm and tugged him forward so that the man could see him more clearly. The woman's grip was surprisingly firm and a bit painful. "You know me very well, Hades. I come to bring you Cutler Beckett. Him died at sea, and der was no one else to bring him."

"Oh," he said and turned to Beckett. "No, I suppose there wouldn't be. Well, come on in, the two of you. No sense in standing out here in the cold."

"I would love to come," Calypso said, "but dere are ot'ers who died at sea as well, and I must take dem to deir final places now. I will return once de new captain of de _Dutchman_ take him place."

"I see. Well, that leaves just you and me, then," Hades said addressing Beckett. "Come on!" He entered the cavern expecting Beckett to follow, but after a few paces, he turned around to see that Beckett hadn't even crossed the gate. He only stood there staring at Cerberus who continued his menacing stance. "What's wrong? I told you he wasn't going to bite."

"All the same," Beckett explained nervously, "I think I'd rather..."

"I don't think you have a choice in the matter. We agreed on this. Remember our little bargain? Don't tell me you forgot."

"Bargain?"

"Yeah, you forgot. I should have expected it. You mortals have this annoying habit of blocking things out that you don't like. Let's see if we can't refresh your memory. Cerberus!" he shouted and gave a short whistle. The dog jumped up, but instead of pouncing on Beckett as he expected, he ran ahead of them into the cavern with his tail wagging. Hades followed, then Beckett, reluctantly.

The inside of Hades's realm was incredibly hot, and the tea that he served did nothing to help that. Beckett used his napkin to remove the perspiration from his brow, since Hades didn't seem to own a proper handkerchief, and his own accessories were somewhat lacking at the moment. One benefit of the tea, however, was that it seemed to bring back his memory of his last visit here. He was a little excited over the prospect of what awaited him in spite of himself. He attempted to make himself as comfortable as possible while he sat at Hades's table and discussed his most recent journey through the land of the living.

"So, the King of England made you a lord. That's something, isn't it?" Hades said while adding a lump of sugar to his tea. He offered one to Beckett, who raised his hand in polite refusal.

"Yes, he did. Lord Cutler Beckett." Beckett smiled proudly at the sound of his own name. "It was roughly ten years after I returned that he did it. As soon as I was able to convince others of my innocence, I went right to work securing trade routes in the East Indies. I was so successful at it, he almost had no choice but to grant me the title. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of British lives were saved because of me." He took a sip of his tea.

"And the others?" Hades asked.

"What others?"

"Non-British."

"Pirates, most of them, and other miscreants of less civilized cultures," Beckett explained. "I did away with them for the most part. Sent them back to the devils from which they came." He snickered a bit, but stopped when he saw that Hades didn't join.

"I'll bet there were a lot of them," Hades said.

"Oh yes, perhaps more of them than there were of us. But where I couldn't defeat them with sheer numbers and force, I defeated them with the mind. Men like myself have that advantage, you know."

Hades nodded "So I've been told." He was very interested in all Beckett had to say and seem to be taking mental notes. It made sense, since this was Beckett's moment to sell himself.

"It's ironic, really," Beckett continued. "I went from court-martial for gross negligence, and was sentenced to death, no less, to becoming the head of the entire EIC in the span of less than fifteen years. Meanwhile, all Sparrow managed to do was get himself eaten by a giant squid. I've always said it's important to choose your allies wisely." He gave a nod to Hades. "Sparrow chose unwisely. Serves him right, for the trouble he caused me. It was almost poetic justice when His Majesty sent me to secure the Caribbean trade routes. I finally had an opportunity to repay him for what he had done to me."

"And yet, you're here, and he's still there," Hades pointed out. He reached into to a bowl of fruit on the table and grabbed a pomegranate.

The smirk on Beckett's face fell away. "His days are numbered, I'm sure."

"Oh, I don't know," Hades laughed. "I hear he has Sao Feng's map. It'll be interesting to see if he finds that Fountain of Youth. Won't be easy to get to, even if he figures out where it's at. But I understand he's a clever one, and persistent if anyone ever was."

Hades ripped his pomegranate in half with his bare hands and sat one half in front of Beckett. When Beckett seemed reluctant to take it, Hades said, "I know what you're thinking, but you might as well take it. You're not going back. The only question left now is where you're going from here." Beckett took his half and began picking at the seeds, poking one or two of them in his mouth at a time. Hades shook his head at him then bit into his own piece. A small amount of red juice trickled from the corner of his mouth and into his beard, but he didn't bother to wipe it away. "So tell me," he said while his mouth was still full, "what else did you do in the Caribbean besides chase after Sparrow? Were you able to get things under control there like you did in the East Indies?"

"Not as I had hoped," Beckett conceded sullenly. He became somewhat pensive for a moment before his former confidence returned. "I may not have abolished piracy completely, but I doubt their breed will survive much longer. It has become nearly impossible for them and their sympathizers to escape the law. Even those common citizens who once saw no harm in sheltering and doing business with them are beginning to see the light. There are now consequences for their actions. Those who still survive have seen this with their own eyes and are breaking all ties with them."

"Survive?" Hades was intrigued.

"Unfortunately, yes. We haven't caught all of them, but those who remain are relatively harmless now that they've seen their fellow partners in crime hauled off to the gallows," he explained.

"Yes, I know you didn't catch _all_ of them. But the ones you did catch, you hanged them? These must have been some dangerous criminals, not merely some common citizens gone astray." Hades finally dabbed the juice from his mouth. "Are you going to eat that?" he asked while pointing to Beckett's nearly untouched fruit.

"No, be my guest," Beckett offered while sliding it toward him. "Many of them were. Some of them were killers as vicious as the pirates they accommodated who brutally slayed the innocent in their lust for money and stolen goods. Others simply fraternized and did business with them, knowing good and well what types of people they were dealing with. All that does is encourage more criminal activity, because the pirates see there is profit in it, and there are those who will allow them to get away with it. Take away the pirates' shelter and means of profit, and they tend to disappear as well."

"So you find it effective to hang people even if they were otherwise good citizens. It seems a little harsh to me." Hades appeared genuinely confused by this, which concerned Beckett. He hadn't expected to have to explain such simple concepts to the god of the Underworld.

"Not at all," Beckett assured him. "These people were perfectly aware of what they were doing, and yet they still made their wicked choices. You would be amazed to see how indifferent some of them were to the damage they were doing to society. I remember one woman who was caught coming home from church one Sunday. Staying under her roof was one of the most notorious pirates in the area. He happened to be her son, which says something about her mothering skills in the first place, and her defense was that she didn't have the heart to turn him away when he asked her for a meal and a place to rest his head. Her son was a known killer, mind you. People died at his hands. And yet, she welcomed him into her home." Beckett shook his head at the memory of it. "And to think, this woman had the audacity to be angry with my men for coming after her on the Sabbath," he laughed. "What kind of callous soul will call on the law of God with her words, but blaspheme it with her very deeds? We hanged them side by side. Society will do far better without them, I assure you."

"It's a shame, I'll agree," Hades said while stroking his beard. Then he looked down and noticed that Beckett's cup was empty. "Would you like some more tea, Mr. Beckett?" he asked.

"Thank you, but I believe I've had enough," he declined.

"All right, then. I think it's time to get down to business. Follow me," Hades said while he stood up from his chair and headed toward a long corridor. Cerberus, who had been sleeping soundly behind his master's chair, lifted all three of his heads suddenly then became excited and began leaping and prancing as though he had been told they were going for a walk. Beckett was still wary of him, if only because of his size and the potential of being trampled. "Settle down, Cerberus," Hades said while patting one of his heads. The beast stopped leaping and ran ahead of them. Beckett followed behind.

The corridor was narrow and somewhat darker than the rest of the cavern with heavy wooden doors placed every few yards on either side of it. Some displayed massive iron locks, while others looked unsecured. They traveled in silence for a short distance, giving Beckett an opportunity to hear the faint howls and cries of anguish that wafted in from some undisclosed location. They were unsettling noises, but Beckett sensed that Hades was a just being and only those who deserved such a fate received it.

"I have to say, Mr. Beckett, you certainly proved yourself this time around," Hades said after a while. "I saw that you were executed for a crime that wasn't entirely your fault, and I thought I was giving you some sort of break by sending you to the Elysian Fields. It's not a bad place, really. People tend to miss their families at first and feel a little displaced due to being a disembodied shade and all, but they get used to it. But that wasn't good enough for you. You felt you had left a bigger mark on history than that. So I suggested Tartarus." Hades laughed and turned around to look at Beckett. "You should have seen your face when I said that. I never forgot it. Come up here and walk next to me so I don't have to keep looking back at you."

Beckett did so reluctantly. The narrow corridor had him nearly shoulder to shoulder with the god, and it made him uncomfortable. "That's right," Hades continued, "you thought you had earned yourself passage to a special place. Garden of the Hesperides, is that what they're calling it in the universities down there?"

"Yes, the place of heroes," Beckett confirmed.

"Heroes." Hades thought about that for a moment. "I suppose it only makes sense that one man's hero is another man's villain."

"Of course," Beckett said. "It all depends which side of good you're on."

Hades smiled. "Exactly. But at the time, you didn't seem to me like you were much of a hero or a villain. I just couldn't see where you had left that kind of mark in the world. But you _promised_ me that if I gave you another chance, you could prove your worth." He remained silent for a while.

"And your conclusion?" Beckett asked.

"I'm impressed."

Hades stopped at one of the unsecured doors and opened it. "Come on in. I want you to meet someone." Beckett entered into a comfortably decorated bedchamber with a fancy writing desk against the back wall. There was a high-back chair in front of it, and Beckett could barely make out the top of the person's head who was sitting in it. "Hey, Percy. I want you to meet Cutler Beckett. Remember me telling you about him?"

The person in the chair stood up and showed herself to be an exceedingly tall woman with long, dark hair and the complexion of white marble. As much as Beckett had always favored a fair skinned woman, even he was a little taken aback by her lack of color. Her features gave her the potential to be otherwise beautiful, but the cold, stern look on her face made her frightening. Her eyes communicated nothing. She gave Beckett a subtle smile as she approached him, but there was no warmth in it whatsoever. In fact, it was almost sinister. "Pleased to finally meet you, Mr. Beckett," she said without offering a hand. "I am Persephone."

"Likewise," was all he managed to say. Her very appearance was unsettling enough. To think that she knew who he was made him almost ill.

"This is my wife," Hades explained, " but I'm sure you already knew that, being an educated man and all. Beautiful, isn't she?" Beckett smiled and nodded politely.

"Sweetheart," he said to Persephone, "do you have the keys to the other realms? Mister Beckett here is ready to move on now." Persephone returned to her desk and opened a small drawer. She pulled out a ring of keys and handed them to Hades. "Thanks, I'll bring them right back," Hades said and spun the ring a couple of times around his finger before he left the room.

There was no need to tell Beckett to follow this time. He couldn't get out of there fast enough. Just before he exited the room, he took one last look at Persephone. All she did was stare back at him coldly. Beckett didn't bother with parting words. He only turned followed Hades out the door.

They continued down the corridor a little further. Cerberus already knew where they were headed and was waiting by one of the locked doors. "Now, I want to be clear about this. I already offered you the Elysian Fields, but you don't want that." He reached the door where Cerberus had stopped and fit one of the keys into its lock. When he pushed it open he motioned for Beckett to come and take a look. "You've definitely proven to me that you deserve more than these guys, but since this was part of our original deal, the option is still open. Are you sure you don't want to stay here?"

Beckett looked inside only to find a dark abyss filled with smokey clouds that swirled and dipped inside the nothingness. As some of them flew close enough, Beckett thought he could make out human faces in them. The faces were sullen and full of anguish, and once in a while, one would cry out in mourning. "The shades," Beckett said out loud. He stepped away from the entrance and said to Hades, "I'm quite certain this isn't where I want to spend eternity."

"Alright, then," Hades said as he closed and locked the door. Cerberus became excited again and all three of his heads began barking playfully, as though he was expecting Hades to throw a ball for him. Hades patted the beast on the back and said, "No, sorry boy. He doesn't want to go in there. Let's move on to the next one." As though the beast understood exactly what Hades had told him, he ran ahead and stopped at another locked door. This time he began whining and scratching at the bottom as though he was trying to get in.

"Stop that!" Hades shouted to him as he approached the door. Cerberus immediately moved away from the door and sat off to the side, but he continued to whine while his tail wagged expectantly. A moment later, Hades had the door opened and motioned for Beckett. "This is Tartarus," he said, although Beckett had already figured it out.

Tartarus was where the howling came from, and quite possibly, the source of the sulfur that Beckett had been smelling. Before he even reached the entrance, he felt intense heat coming from inside. The memory of his final moments among the living flashed through his mind and made him reluctant to look. When he did, he saw shades flying around just like in the last realm, except the faces on these looked genuinely tortured. The source of the heat was a large pool of magma that swirled below them. None of the shades were in contact with it, but the heat that emanated from it was hot enough to burn. "Why are you even showing this to me?" Beckett asked. He was becoming annoyed with this whole game and wanted to move on. "I returned to the land of the living to earn my place among the heroes. You said I've succeeded, so all of this is merely a waste of my time."

"I just want to make sure you know your options," Hades said. "But if you're so anxious to go, then let's go. Come on, Cerberus!" Cerberus leaped up on his master and began licking his face. Hades just laughed and gently pushed him back down. Once again, the beast ran ahead and found the next door. This time, he was leaping, prancing and even chased his tail for a moment, until one of the heads caught it and he yelped. The pain was quickly forgotten, though, and he resumed his excitement.

Hades waited until Beckett was at his side again and laughed, "I tell you, that dog is something else. Have you ever owned a dog, Mr. Beckett? They do wonders for the soul."

"I have no need for pets."

"No, I suppose you wouldn't. Shame, though."

They reached the final door at the of the corridor. This one was solid iron, not wooden like the others. Hades slipped the key inside the lock and gave the door a hearty tug. He strained hard to get it open, but once he pulled it back, a grotesque sound emanated from it that immediately brought to Beckett's mind the image of a thousand wild pigs being torturously slaughtered all at the same time. The smell was what he imagined their corpses would create when left to rot in the sun. The heat that blasted out of there burned his flesh every bit as intensely as the flames that caused his demise, except because he was immortal now, the nerves beneath were not mercifully singed away, allowing the sensation to continue for as long as he stood there. Hades once again motioned for Beckett to approach and have a look, but Beckett didn't dare come any closer. "What is this?!" he screamed.

"This is the Garden of Hesperides, the place of heroes, as you called them. Mighty men, and even a few women, who have made their marks in history, whose effects on mankind will be felt for generations to come, whose names will never be forgotten. People like Attila the Hun, Vlad the Impaler, Bloody Mary, and even your good friend, Davy Jones." At this, a subtle smirk crept onto his face. "Yes, you have earned your place among the Great and Mighty. Step up and claim your reward."

"But I don't understand," Beckett argued. "I dedicated my life to ridding the world of those who had no respect of morals nor laws. I brought order to the seas. I advanced civilization to regions where none existed. Why would I be punished for this?"

"Because you did it without love or mercy, and above all, you did it only for your own personal gain," Hades answered. He was more stern now. His former desire for understanding had vanished, and now he was poised to pass judgment. "Do you realize how many men and women were tortured, lives ruined, loved ones lost, and hearts broken because of you? I can assure you, the damage you inflicted on entire regions far surpasses the damage inflicted by any one of these so-called criminals that you executed."

Although this was the explanation Beckett sought, his mind wasn't in any condition to be able to comprehend what he had just been told. All he understood was that his work was not acceptable in the eyes of this particular god, and he was about to be punished severely for his deeds. "I won't accept this judgment from a heathen god!" he told Hades. "I demand to speak to another god, the Almighty God of the Christian Bible! He understands law and order. He created the very Ten Commandments on which we base our civilization. I would like an audience with Him, and if He still thinks I'm an evil man, then let Him send me to Hell."

A loud, hideous laugh bellowed out of Hades. "Hell? You think you're fit for Hell? Hell is for people with souls, Mr. Beckett. _You have no soul_!"

Beckett stood there only long enough for the words to sink in, then he turned to run but stopped short when he saw Cerberus blocking his path. All three of his heads were snarling and baring their teeth at him. Saliva dripped from his mouths and the hair on his necks and back were standing on edge. One more move, and Beckett had no doubt the beast would pounce on him. He stood there, frozen.

"I almost feel bad about doing this," Hades said. "I have to admit, it wasn't exactly fair to lead you on the way I did, making you think you were going on to some great reward when you were actually being led to your doom. But the world of the living creates some rather hideous monsters, and it's my job to make sure that those monsters don't plague mankind for all of eternity. If you were really as notorious as you claimed to be, I had to make sure I was sending you to the right place. So I hope you're not taking this personally, Mr. Beckett. I assure you, it's all just good business...Cerberus, get him!"

Cerberus leaped at Beckett, and in an instant the middle head had him clutched tightly in his jaws. The beast shook his head violently, thrashing the helpless man around in such a way that no mortal could have survived, before taking him to the threshold of this final realm and tossing him in. Hades pushed the door closed with all his strength until it finally sealed off the sound and stench behind it. With a final twist of the key the job was finished.

"You really didn't want to do it, did you?"

Hades looked up to find Persephone leaning against the corridor wall where she had been watching the whole exchange. She held out her hand for the keys. "You know me too well," he said. "But I'm telling you, that one had me fooled. He didn't look all that bad when I first saw him." He handed the keys back to her.

"Pride," she said coldly. "It will dehumanize a man faster than all the other deadly sins combined. And he reeked of it." She took Hades's hand and the two of them walked out of the corridor together with Cerberus following at their heels.

_It's a fine line that divides a healthy dose of self-esteem from foolish pride. History is filled with those people who knew they could accomplish something, as well as those who felt they must at all costs. It is the first group who tends to bring us modern marvels, miracles in the face of adversity, and true advancement in the human condition. While the latter group tends to destroy beauty, create adversity, and stifle the human spirit in others. Cutler Beckett became a part of this group when he placed his own greatness ahead of his compassion for those around him. By striving so hard to elevate himself above all others, he unknowingly crossed that fine line between self-esteem and pride, and landed himself in The Twilight Zone. _


End file.
